Release Date:
“Because it always, always, comes up” says producer Maddie Marmor.
Land is spoken of constantly in young and new farm circles – where are you farming, how did you access it, what was your strategy, … it is almost always the 3rd or 4th question after “How are you?” and “How’s the season going?”
Some would wax on about vertical farming, aquaponics, and lab grown food. Fair, however these formats are not what the majority of young and new farmers are interested in. Land, soil and access to it, is at the heart of our experience – it is fraught, loaded and deeply rooted at the intersection of class, race, settler – first nation relationships and capitalism (this list is not exhaustive.) In short, land is still that important.
In this first episode of the series, S&G hosts Stuart Oke, Aliyah Fraser and Maddie Marmor break down some of the personal reasons to focus on Land Access. It will introduce the struggle to lens equity into the series from the context of four farmers (can’t forget the amazing Kate Garvie – producer/editor extraordinaire!) who are young, currently and previously ‘landless’, first generation, lower class, white and black, who want to farm while decolonizing within a colonial system.
Balancing the inclusion of land ownership in the land access conversation while not promoting it as a solution was a tension throughout the season. We ask it to you now: how do we access land while also decolonizing?
All this and more in our first episode of the series – Why Land Access?
LINKS
Other Episodes in this series
Episode 2: What’s the deal with Québec?
Episode 3: If I could say one thing to someone wanting to farm from my context, it would be…
Episode 4: Farming on ‘Public’ Lands – Highs and Lows
View all episodes in:
contributors
Madeline (Maddie) Marmor
Co-Host/Producer
Maddie is a landless farmer born in downtown Toronto. She has been farming for the past 8 years on farms throughout Ontario and has grown food on the current and traditional lands of the Houdensaunee, Anishinabewaki, Attiwonderonk, Mississauga, Odawa, Wendake-Nionwentsïo, Petun, Saugeene – Ojibiway nations. Over the years she has come to recognize the privilege and political significance of farming on stolen land, knowledge which has informed her dedication to food sovereignty and agroecology. She is an active member of the National Farmers Union, sits on the North American Nyéléni Coordination and accompanies systems change in food spaces as an adult education facilitator.
Aliyah Fraser
Co-Host/Producer
Aliyah is a Kitchener-based farmer who owns and operates a quarter acre market garden called Lucky Bug Farm on rented land in Waterloo Region where she grows a variety of produce for a small CSA program. The farm operates within the Haldimand Tract in Kitchener, Ontario and is on the traditional territory of the Mississauga, Anishnabeg, Attiwonderonk (neutral) and Haudenoshaunee peoples. She imagines a food system where more people have access to ecologically grown food, where there is less waste and where there’s a better understanding of the labour it takes to get food from the farm to the table. Aliyah also has an undergraduate degree in Environmental Studies in Urban planning from the University of Waterloo. She believes that food and housing are human rights. She lives in Kitchener, Ontario with her partner Thomas and cat Frankie.
luckybugfarm.com | @luckybugfarm
Stuart Oke
Co-Host/Producer
Stuart is a young farmer from Eastern Ontario who, alongside his partner Nikki, owns and operates Rooted Oak Farm, a 12 acre organic vegetable and cut flower farm. After years of renting land Rooted Oak in 2020 relocated to Eastern Ontario, and the traditional territory of the Anishinabek, Huron-Wendat, Haudensaunee and Oneida Peoples. In addition to loving food and taking pride in growing food that sustains people, the farm was founded on the idea that farming is a political act, one capable of creating great change.
www.rootedoak.ca | @rootedoakfarm
Katherine Aske
Guest
Katherine grew up in Mi’kma’ki. From 2019-2020, she interviewed grain and oilseed farmers across Alberta for her MA research into the financialization of farmland. She has worked as a farm worker in Alaska and around Vancouver, and is currently farming on unceded Musqueam territory as UBC Farm’s Practicum Field Coordinator. She previously worked for the National Farmers Union (NFU) in New Brunswick, and is now involved in leading the NFU’s Farmland Committee. She lives for moments like singing Solidarity Forever at NFU conventions.